ReelBob: ‘By Night’s End’ ★★½
By Bob Bloom
“By Night’s End” is a modest action-thriller about a home invasion that continually escalates forcing a couple still dealing with tragedy and trauma to come to terms with their pasts.
Heather (Michelle Rose) and Mark (Kurt Yue) have been living in their new home for about a month. They are struggling; Mark is looking for work and Heather is dissatisfied with her job.
Plus, they are still pained from and coping with the loss of their young daughter, killed by a drunken driver.
Their lives are further upended when they discover an intruder in their house, whom Heather is forced to shoot and kill in self-defense.
Before the shooting, the intruder had offered the couple $10,000 if they let him retrieve something hidden in the house. But they did not learn anything more before he is fatally shot.
Heather immediately wants to call the police, but Mark convinces her to wait an hour so they can search the house for whatever the intruder sought, arguing it must be valuable if they were offered money for it.
Thus begins a night of terror and tension for Heather and Mark as Moody (Michael Aaron Milligan), the intruder’s boss, contacts the couple on a walkie-talkie, telling them that they have something that is his.
They are in the dark as Moody threatens and cajoles the couple to let him — and his men — search the house.
Writer-director Walker Whited does a fine job sustaining tension and mystery. We begin to wonder what can be so valuable that it costs more lives.
Wisely, Whited doesn’t forget the human element as the stress of the siege forces Heather and Mark to face fractures in their marriage. They exchange recriminations and reveal frustrations and open wounds.
But underneath, they remain a strong committed couple working together to protect their home and their lives.
Rose’s Heather is a badass, an Iraqi veteran comfortable with sidearms and anything else, including a toothbrush, she can use as a weapon.
Yue’s Mark is not as tough, mostly deferring to Heather, but also a bit resentful that she is the family’s alpha.
The finale of “By Night’s End” is somewhat of a letdown, but at a short 85 minutes, it keeps you invested watching a couple forced to battle outside forces and inner demons to prevail.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.
BY NIGHT’S END
2½ stars out of 4
Not rated, violence, language